The Skateboarding Park
Children's Story
"It's not fair," announced Kendra angrily.
"No," chorused her band of friends, "It's not fair."
During the long, summer evenings, the car park of the local supermarket was usually half empty. It was a glorious open space with, most importantly of all, a really smooth surface. What's more, if you started at the side nearest the supermarket, it had a gentle slope right down to the other side. It was absolutely made for skateboarding - or so Kendra and the gang felt. But the manager of the supermarket seemed to have other ideas.
Whenever he saw the girls gathering in the car park with their skateboards, he'd rush out of the store shaking his fist and yelling, "Get away from here, you girls. This isn't a race track, you know. You'll injure someone, you will, racing about here on those things. You're dangerous, that's what you are."
At first, the girls had tried to reason with him. "We won't do any harm, honest. If we see any old people, we'll give them a wide berth. We don't want to hurt anyone, we only want to have fun."
But the manager wouldn't listen. He just went on shouting, and when Kendra was goaded into shouting back rather rudely, he threatened to call the police and disappeared inside the store. The girls went on playing for a bit, keeping an eye open to see if he really had called the police, and when one of them spotted a squad car turning the corner, they all fled.
The girls would have been happy to use the school playground, but the school was either locked in the evening so that they had to climb over the gates and risk the wrath of the school caretaker, or else was kept open for evening classes. And since three of their parents attended evening classes, that finished the school as a likely venue.
They'd all tried to think of other places to skateboard, but there just wasn't anywhere. Jenni had been to a town some miles away and returned with a report of a proper skateboarding park there, but it seemed no-one in this town was interested in a bunch of children. Especially children who'd caused a nuisance at the local supermarket. Hence the girls' disgruntlement.
"It isn't fair," Kendra repeated when she reached home, although without much hope that anyone would listen. To be fair, her Dad wasn't actually there so he didn't hear her. Her Mum was reading the paper, and as soon as Kendra started, her Mum immediately wore that expression on her face which said 'I'm pretending to listen, but actually I'm not very interested.'
So Kendra kept on and on grumbling, half to herself. But it was clear her mother had been listening to some extent, because after five minutes of this she suddenly flung down the paper in an exasperated sort of way and said, "Don't just keep on grumbling! If you want something to happen, get up and do something!"
The phrase reminded Kendra of something she had heard at Church. It had been one of her favourite stories, when Jesus healed the little daughter of Jairus, one of the leaders of the Jewish synagogue. Kendra remembered Jesus had gone into the little girl's room and stood by her bed and said, "Little girl, get up!" And the girl, whom everybody had thought was dead, had got up, right as rain.
After that, "Little girl, get up!" seemed to go round and round in Kendra's head. 'No,' she thought to herself. 'I can't do anything. I'm too small. Nobody listens to me. Only grown-ups can make things happen.' But the words still spun round in her brain, until she found herself thinking, 'I wonder what we could do?'
After that, Kendra began to feel quite excited. She called the gang together and said, "Let's get our own skateboarding park built here!"
The others stared at her as though she'd gone mad, but when Kendra began to suggest talking to the newspapers and contacting the mayor and writing to the Prime Minister, they all began to catch the excitement and add suggestions of their own.
They started at once, and worked hard writing letters and making telephone calls. The local newspaper was very interested, and the girls even found themselves on local radio. A wealthy businessman heard the radio broadcast and rang the council to say that if they'd locate a suitable site for a skateboarding park, he'd pay to have it built.
And that's exactly what happened. The following year there was a skateboarding park in the town, and Kendra and the gang went on to start a skateboarding club, which proved very popular with both the children and their parents.
'Little girl, get up!' thought Kendra to herself. 'It really does work! With God, you can do anything, even when you're only quite small and unimportant.' And she said a big thank you to God for helping her make her dream come true.
"No," chorused her band of friends, "It's not fair."
During the long, summer evenings, the car park of the local supermarket was usually half empty. It was a glorious open space with, most importantly of all, a really smooth surface. What's more, if you started at the side nearest the supermarket, it had a gentle slope right down to the other side. It was absolutely made for skateboarding - or so Kendra and the gang felt. But the manager of the supermarket seemed to have other ideas.
Whenever he saw the girls gathering in the car park with their skateboards, he'd rush out of the store shaking his fist and yelling, "Get away from here, you girls. This isn't a race track, you know. You'll injure someone, you will, racing about here on those things. You're dangerous, that's what you are."
At first, the girls had tried to reason with him. "We won't do any harm, honest. If we see any old people, we'll give them a wide berth. We don't want to hurt anyone, we only want to have fun."
But the manager wouldn't listen. He just went on shouting, and when Kendra was goaded into shouting back rather rudely, he threatened to call the police and disappeared inside the store. The girls went on playing for a bit, keeping an eye open to see if he really had called the police, and when one of them spotted a squad car turning the corner, they all fled.
The girls would have been happy to use the school playground, but the school was either locked in the evening so that they had to climb over the gates and risk the wrath of the school caretaker, or else was kept open for evening classes. And since three of their parents attended evening classes, that finished the school as a likely venue.
They'd all tried to think of other places to skateboard, but there just wasn't anywhere. Jenni had been to a town some miles away and returned with a report of a proper skateboarding park there, but it seemed no-one in this town was interested in a bunch of children. Especially children who'd caused a nuisance at the local supermarket. Hence the girls' disgruntlement.
"It isn't fair," Kendra repeated when she reached home, although without much hope that anyone would listen. To be fair, her Dad wasn't actually there so he didn't hear her. Her Mum was reading the paper, and as soon as Kendra started, her Mum immediately wore that expression on her face which said 'I'm pretending to listen, but actually I'm not very interested.'
So Kendra kept on and on grumbling, half to herself. But it was clear her mother had been listening to some extent, because after five minutes of this she suddenly flung down the paper in an exasperated sort of way and said, "Don't just keep on grumbling! If you want something to happen, get up and do something!"
The phrase reminded Kendra of something she had heard at Church. It had been one of her favourite stories, when Jesus healed the little daughter of Jairus, one of the leaders of the Jewish synagogue. Kendra remembered Jesus had gone into the little girl's room and stood by her bed and said, "Little girl, get up!" And the girl, whom everybody had thought was dead, had got up, right as rain.
After that, "Little girl, get up!" seemed to go round and round in Kendra's head. 'No,' she thought to herself. 'I can't do anything. I'm too small. Nobody listens to me. Only grown-ups can make things happen.' But the words still spun round in her brain, until she found herself thinking, 'I wonder what we could do?'
After that, Kendra began to feel quite excited. She called the gang together and said, "Let's get our own skateboarding park built here!"
The others stared at her as though she'd gone mad, but when Kendra began to suggest talking to the newspapers and contacting the mayor and writing to the Prime Minister, they all began to catch the excitement and add suggestions of their own.
They started at once, and worked hard writing letters and making telephone calls. The local newspaper was very interested, and the girls even found themselves on local radio. A wealthy businessman heard the radio broadcast and rang the council to say that if they'd locate a suitable site for a skateboarding park, he'd pay to have it built.
And that's exactly what happened. The following year there was a skateboarding park in the town, and Kendra and the gang went on to start a skateboarding club, which proved very popular with both the children and their parents.
'Little girl, get up!' thought Kendra to herself. 'It really does work! With God, you can do anything, even when you're only quite small and unimportant.' And she said a big thank you to God for helping her make her dream come true.
